36. Arim

Chapter 36

Arim

I did my best to breathe, hoping against hope that Lexa had at least retrieved what she needed to make herself whole. I could no longer see out of my right eye, and my stomach boasted more holes than a wooden flute. Groaning, I didn't have to feign weakness as I struggled to stand.

Sin Garu and I had taken our fight from the commons out of the castle onto Tanselm's dying grasses. The land shuddered as every blow from the demon-infested Dark Lord struck me, and thus Tanselm, deep into her core.

It was as if the land had invested the last of her energy in her chosen guardian, the Killer of Shadow. Were I to die, I'd take her with me. So not only to save Lexa but the land as well, I continued to force myself to stay conscience when every cell I possessed wanted to lie down and die.

The demon poison burned my flesh, bruised my soul, and made me want things I shouldn't. It ate at the Light fueling me and force-fed me Darkness, making me both weaker and stronger because of it. A contradiction that kept me alive, if barely.

All around me, Light Bringers battled the Netharat . Here, in the western territory, it seemed the Light might prevail.

If I could fucking kill one unkillable Dark Lord.

Sin Garu screeched a warning at the wraith that shadowed my every move and angled to cover my weaker side, leaving the wraith free to attack my less damaged flank. I wheezed as I tried to catch my breath, realizing I probably wouldn't live through this. I wanted badly to see Lexa again, to at least know I'd helped to save her now, as I hadn't been able to back then.

Tired of watching Sin Garu control this fight, I called on my inner Darkness and tangled a stray beam of Light in my power. I focused on Sin Garu's lackey, the bloodless Sirral, and sliced the wraith in two.

Sin Garu hissed his displeasure and reached out with one clawed hand toward my face as he raced toward me.

"Arim! Mother of Light ," I heard Darius exclaim. Dimly aware of Samantha and several Light Bringer sorcerers gathering close, I held up a hand to shield them from my personal battle as I braced for impact.

Caging myself and Sin Garu together, I would allow no one but myself to fall at the Dark Lord's hands. My nephew would have to protect the others from the small number of Netharat still living. But if Darius was near enough to this outlying portion of Tanselm's western forest, the battle had to be close to over. This skirmish, not nearly so.

Sin Garu had suffered some damage to his body, but the demons holding him together seemed to absorb most of his injuries. Even with several severed fingers and a broken knee, Sin Garu moved as if he felt no pain.

The two of us slammed together, and I felt as if I'd been hit by a brick wall. I averted my eyes from the talons stretching close, needing my precious sight to survive a while longer. Sin Garu raked my neck instead.

I cursed at the blaze of pain racking my aching body. " Get. Off ."

I allowed the last bit of my Light to pour through my wounds, cauterizing them to stop the bleeding, as well as to score deep furrows in Sin Garu's rotting flesh.

The Dark Lord screamed, cursing me, my future progeny, and my ancestors to every imaginable concept of damnation.

"You're weak, as you've always been," I said hoarsely. "Weak and pitiful." Not smart, but the insult shot straight at Sin Garu's major vulnerability. His pride. The Dark Lord pushed me away, and I fell hard on the ground. Tanselm's magic had dulled enough that her earth did nothing to help me as I landed flat on my back.

"Weak? Me? " Sin Garu's maniacal laughter rang out over the field. "I've brought the Storm Lords and your precious Tanselm to their knees . You are nothing. A Light Bringer with no more power than that of your flailing world. You have nothing. My demons are feasting on Lexa even now. She'll feed us forever." Sin Garu laughed again, and I could hear the demons inside him laughing as well.

The evil coming from him made my eyes tear and my ears bleed. I could only be glad I'd shielded everyone else from such torment. As I lay looking up at my enemy, a picture of Lexa came to me. Her soft blue eyes loving, her arms spread wide in welcome, eagerly awaiting our embrace.

My vision darkened as untold pleasure beckoned me close. If only I could hear her one last time, the sultry timber of a woman in love…

"You die on me, and I'll bring you back from the Next just to kill you again." Lexa's cold voice rang with fury.

I managed to open one eye in time to see her stalk inside my shield and blast Sin Garu away from me and into the opposite confine of a new bubble — several tree lengths away.

Unable to move, I chuckled and blinked up at her as she kneeled over me. I whispered, "I guess I don't have to ask if you're whole again."

Her tears hit my cheeks as she raged. "I leave you by yourself for a bit and you nearly die. What is wrong with you?" She ripped open my already torn overtunic and placed her hands flat on my chest.

"Lexa…not…safe."

"Shut up." The venomous look she shot Sin Garu made me glad she wasn't as angry at me. She waved a hand at him, and I watched in astonishment as the Dark Lord stood frozen like a statue. "There. Now I can focus."

The cold of her palms numbed the pain. I sighed as the sweet relief of oblivion neared. Then heat coursed through our contact, and I squirmed as tingles of energy hit me like angry, stinging bees.

"Ouch. That hurts, damn it." In an instant, life flew back into me. The earth beneath me swelled with power and shared it through the matted blades of grass and dark earth replete with new vitality.

Lexa's power smacked of Darkness, but it fed the Darkness in my soul and attracted even more of Tanselm's Light. And something more, something easing through Tanselm's sentience.

Relief?

"Finally. Sava broke the demon bridge." Lexa smiled with reassurance and love.

I felt more than just her love, overwhelmed by Tanselm's excitement, bursts of joy surging around Lexa's womb, adding layers of protection and love and fierce anticipation. It was that energy that brought back my focus.

I stared in shock at her slender belly, at the proof of what I'd partially suspected, mostly hoped, before.

"Lexa?" There was much I wanted to know, but I feared for her safety so near Sin Garu. Though her power seemed to have quadrupled, Sin Garu was no mere Dark Lord but a host to demonic forces that wanted more than anything to conquer this world of Light.

I sat up with Lexa's help. We watched as Sin Garu tried to break through the paralysis holding him still. A paralysis that shouldn't have worked considering the demons bolstering the Dark Lord's reserves.

It was then I noticed that the shield surrounding me finally faltered. Apparently, the Royal Four and their affai, a host of other Light Bringers, Jonas, Djinn and Aellein warriors now surrounded the area where the shield had been.

"You did it, Arim. You broke the drain on Tanselm's energy." Aerolus grinned, the wind whipping around him with the force of a small tornado.

"I didn't do it. She did." I nodded at Lexa, not at all glad everyone seemed to have disregarded Sin Garu's presence. The battle was far from over, so why was everyone smiling? And why the hell were my nephews here and not fighting in their respective territories? I hadn't quite centered myself yet, standing tall when I should have been dead.

Sava suddenly appeared next to Jonas with a body draped over his shoulder, startling the Djinn into a battle crouch. When Jonas saw Sava, he grinned and raised a hand, as if to clasp Sava's. After a moment, he faltered then backed away and erected a shield of Dark between them.

"Demons," Jonas hissed, which had everyone defensive and readying to attack Sava.

"Wait." Lexa left my side and approached our possessed friend. "I have the one you're looking for." She glanced over her shoulder at Sin Garu.

Sava considered her then shifted his gaze to the frozen Dark Lord. "What's stopping me from having both of you?" He grinned, showcasing a mouth of sharp teeth, awfully similar to Sin Garu's.

I teleported between Lexa and Sava, standing tall and pain free. " I won't allow it." I didn't need to be told that Sava wasn't himself.

I could smell demon on the Aellei's skin, like a musky, Dark cologne.

"Arim, it's okay —" Lexa tried, but I cut her off.

"It's not okay."

She didn't seem to understand. I'd been one breath away from death and then she'd reappeared to save me. I might have lost her in that demon hell. I might have died, separating us until she joined me in the Next.

But now she was here, and she put herself in deliberate danger confronting a possessed Aellei, one already powerful before the demons had entered him. That hazard was not only to herself but also to the precious bundle she carried inside her.

I spoke to his demons, trying to be calm and controlled. "Remove yourselves from the Aellei. He's your host no longer. Take the rotting Dark Lord. The evil in his soul is one that can feed you for an eternity."

Sava dumped the body over his shoulder to the ground and walked to Sin Garu, studying him intently. I allowed myself a brief glance at the ground and swore when I saw the unmoving frame of Brother Giles, my lone informant in the Church of Illumination. The young man had a bad case of hero worship, and I had used it to learn what I could about the Church. Too little, too late, apparently.

Seeming to sense my concern, Lexa looked from me to Giles and kneeled by the young man's side. She placed a hand on his forehead. Moments later, Giles groaned.

"I'll take the Dark Lord," Sava declared in a horrific cacophony, causing everyone around him to cringe. "Him and the white one."

White one?